There she is!! is a series of five music videos by SamBakZa, a group of three Korean artists (SamBakZa literally means "three beats" in Korean). It chronicles the story of Doki the rabbit and Nabi the cat, who live in a society that disapproves of their love. It ran from 2004 to 2008.
Characters
Various Characters from the series.
Nabi is a male cat, and is in a relationship with Doki. At first, he didn't like Doki, but grew to care for her. However, he broke up with her for a while when he feared for her safety. He is easily distinguishable by his green scarf, which is similar to the green ribbons Doki puts on animals. Nabi is a diminutive of the Korean word for cat.
Doki is a female rabbit. She is in love with Nabi, despite the fact that their society discourages it. She sets out to win his heart despite his initial rebuttals, with great determination. She is extremely friendly, and gets along with both other people and animals. She puts green ribbons on the animals she befriends, which resemble Nabi's scarf.
Jjintta Set is a group of three rabbits. They are notably tougher and shaggier than any other characters in the series. Although they are initially mistrustful of Nabi, they begin to support his relationship with Doki by the end of the series. Il-ho is their leader, and is particularly mistrustful of Nabi. Yi-ho, who wears an eye patch, appears to have a crush on the keyboardist cat in Hana's band. Sam-ho, who wears a surgical mask, appears to be klutzy and uncoordinated.
Hana manages a band of three members, and is close to her bodyguard, Pizza.
Style
Note the largely monochromatic style.
The art of There She Is!! is done in a Manhwa style, which is roughly the Korean equivalent of the Japanese Manga-style. In this traditional Korean style, the heads and eyes of characters are emphasized, body proportions are somewhat more realistic than in equivalent manga, and the artwork is largely monochromatic. Other than a few elements such as the fact that the people are either cats or rabbits and that Doki's hearts are physical objects, the series is fairly realistic. Animation is lively and fluid, and there is usually some action going on. Each episode is set up as a music video, with a song that reinforces and emphasizes the plot. These songs tend to be Korean pop music, with lyrics that reinforce the message of the episodes.
Episodes
There she is!!!
Nabi and Doki meet eachother for the first time.
The first episode starts when Doki, a female rabbit, falls in love with Nabi, a male cat. She fantasizes about having a perfect relationship with him. However, Nabi does not feel the same way, and they live in a society that prohibits cross-species relationships. Nabi tries to run away, get Doki a boyfriend rabbit, and even explains how rabbits and cats belong with their own kind. However, Doki is persistent, and keeps on chasing Nabi until he finally submits. In the end he begins to appreciate Doki and the things they have in common.
Nabi's first encounter with the Jjintta Set does not go well.
There she is!! step 2
Subtitle- Cake Dance
It is Doki's birthday party, and several new characters, including Hana, her band, and Pizza the bodyguard, are there. Hana explains to Doki that Nabi is bringing the cake. However, he has a lot of trouble, since the city they live in is busy and crowded. At one point, he is chased by an assortment of animals with green ribbons, which are later revealed to be Doki's friends. Nabi is late, and somebody offers Doki another cake. However, she quickly eats the cake, apparently waiting for Nabi to bring her "real" birthday cake. Although late, Nabi is almost able to reach the party. However, he bumps into the Jjintta Set, a band of three rabbits led by Il-ho. They chase him into the place where the party is being held, but he trips and drops the cake. However, Doki is very happy with the squashed cake and just seems happy to see him, but when she shows her affection for Nabi, people look with shock.
There she is!! step 3
Doki and Nabi on a date.
Nabi is getting ready for his day and opens his front door to find a present from Doki. The present contains Doki herself, who is wildly enthusiastic about their first date. Nabi, though also happy, is more subdued, and shows alarm when Doki grabs his arm. Doki introduces Nabi to her animal friends, and meets a hedgehog, which she puts a green ribbon on. After they watch a movie together, they encounter the Jjintta Set again, which stops them momentarily before Nabi leads Doki through. While they are finishing the walk home, they encounter a rabbit holding the traditional "No interspecies Love" sign with black lines in the corners. In Korea, black lines in the corner of a sign represent that the picture is of something dead. Doki arrives home, and Nabi starts to walk away before coming back. He asks Doki for a second date, and she agrees enthusiastically. However, the episode ends on a negative note, when a brick is thrown through Nabi's window in the night.
Some of the interspecies relationship supporters.
There she is!! step 4
Compared to the rest of the series, Step 4 is filled with violence and turmoil. It chronicles the conflict between interspecies relationship supporters and opponents. The neighborhood is covered in derogatory graffiti. Various people are yelling at Nabi and Doki and kicking them out of places for being a interspecies couple. Meanwhile, the rabbit holding the sign in Step 3 has started a full interspecies movement, which includes members of both species and the Jjintta Set. However, the anti-interspecies movement is far larger, though notably segregated between rabbits and cats. They attack Doki while she is playing with a few of her animal friends. The Hedgehog tries to defend her, but they are both badly hurt, and Doki is hospitalized. Nabi, who is scared that she will be hurt again, decides to break up with her for her own safety, going as far as to put up an anti-interspecies sign on his house. Once he does this, his green scarf becomes gray, representing how he has given up. Doki, who is trying to help the hedgehog while it lays dying, decides to get two plane tickets for "Paradise," presumably a place where interspecies relationships can exist peacefully. She hopes that she and Nabi can live there together. Il-ho saw this, and decided to confront Nabi, literally punching him in the face, trying to get him to see reason. However, this starts a riot between interspecies supporters and opponents, and get them all jailed. After the hedgehog died, Doki tries to call Nabi, but he was unable to answer, due to being in jail. Doki gives up, and decides to go to paradise by herself.
There she is!! final step
A Happy Ending.
This episode starts with Doki tying one of her signature green ribbons to a tree. In Korea, people tie ribbons to trees to send prayers. Nabi is released form jail, his scarf still grey, in time for Doki to text him good bye. He is sitting on a bench near the vending machines where they first met when he sees a small yellow bird, and follows it, protecting it from danger. Eventually, they stumble upon the tree where Doki made her prayer. A large number of ribbons, new and old, are blowing in the wind. Nabi is inspired, and starts to run towards Doki's house. He comes across a crowd, but is helped through by Doki's animal friends. He discovers that Doki is at the airport, and is about to go on a plane for Paradise. Il-ho and Hana help him get to the airport. Doki, who is surrounded by protesters, is about to get on the plane when Nabi arrives. They go home together, and the series's various characters come to accept each other. The series ends where it began, at the two vending machines, where Doki and Nabi are cleaning off grafitti and drinking carrot and fish juice.
Release Dates
There she is!!! - 4/10/2004
There she is!! step 2 - 03/11/2005
There she is!! step3 - 06/05/2008
There She Is!! step 4 - 08/24/2008
There she is!! final step - 12/18/2008
Themes
Unlike many popular series on Newgrounds, several ethical themes are present throughout the There She Is!! series. The underlying theme of the series is love should be acceptable, even between different groups. Many Western viewers have interpreted this as a parable for homosexual marriage in particular.[1] Although possible, considering how gay marriage isn't allowed in South Korea, the series more likely refers to Korean-Japanese relations, which remain unpopular amongst Korean conservatives. [2]
Another common theme throughout the series is unrequited love. The most notable example of this is Nabi's rejection of Doki until late in the series. However, Doki also rejects Il-ho, and a Grey Cat is seen constantly trying to win Hana's affections.
Reception
There she is!!! has been an extremely popular series on Newgrounds. The five entries in the series have all won both the Daily Features and Weekly Users' Choice Awards, and steps 2 and 4 also won Review Crew Picks. The last three steps, released in 2008, all won their respective monthly contests, making all three episodes Tank Awards nominees and making Tom Fulp include two additional movies to keep the number of nominated franchises at 18. To this day, all five submissions maintain scores of over 4.3/5. In total, the series has had over 10 million views. The Icon for Flash Portal History in 2008 is taken from the Final Step. The original There she is!!! is the second most voted on entry of all time, just after Final Fantasy A+. It is also the 6th most reviewed submission of all time and the second most favorited of all time, just after The Ultimate Showdown. As of February 2010, The Final Step maintains an extremely high review average of 9.93/10, the second highest in the portal, beaten only by Tarboy.
Tribute and parody
The series's popularity has also made it the target of tribute and ridicule on Newgrounds. Several popular movies about Newgrounds in general, such as "Newgrounds in a Nutshell!" and "Everything by Everyone," mention There she is!! as one of Newgrounds's defining series.[3][4] One movie, There she is!! Honeymoon, depicted Doki and Nabi in several sexual positions. [5]